This evening, I stopped by Borders on my way back to my room to pick up a cup of chamomile tea to go. As I walked into the cafe, I heard acoustic guitar music; a gentleman was sitting in the corner playing easy listening and light classical music. The first piece I heard was a Carpenters composition, “We’ve Only Just Begun”, which took me back to my very first album ever in junior high.

I love acoustic guitar - easy listening, classical, Spanish, bluegrass - so I sat down to drink my tea and listen for a few minutes. On the way out I wandered by to put money in the musician’s tip jar; he offered me a home-labeled CD for my tip, and I thanked him for both the happiness-inducing music and the CD and headed out.

On the way back to my room I was thinking — I need to get my guitar out again, and begin playing. I need to learn some pieces so well, that when I need therapeutic music I can simply pull out my guitar like an old friend.

I sat down and logged onto my computer. (Yes, I’m an email addict, especially when in Anchorage.) I thought, hey, I’ll google this guy… as a semipro musician, he may have a website.

Then came the madness… I did find a search result for the musician’s name, which I am not disclosing here, for a Wikipedia page. Drilling down to read it, I learned that if indeed this was the same guy - and it is an unusual name with age and skills that match - he was a music teacher who had been fired from a local high school a decade ago after being charged with seven counts of felony child sexual abuse of a minor who was a student. After pleading no contest to one charge, the other charges were dropped and he served five years in prison.

Ugh. It’s like peeking behind the scenes and finding a cesspool. As a disclaimer, it’s Wikipedia, which may or may not be entirely accurate. I’ve deleted the music from my iTunes - what the heck do I do with the CD? And I have to wonder, does Borders know the history — and if it is correct, is it my business to tell them?

I am very sad. So much talent, such beautiful music… utterly spoiled, at least for me.

We went to a Billy Joel concert at KeyArena last night. It was perhaps the best show I’ve ever been to.

After Billy Joel’s wild opening song, he swiveled and spoke to the audience. “Billy Joel couldn’t make it tonight, I’m his father.” The house laughed.

He started with a cut from 1971, included most of his fabulous hits of the 70s and 80s, and had everyone on their feet singing at the top of their lungs throughout the night.

I guess I’d never realized what a phenomenal piano player he is… on an instrumental number he called Rootbeer Rag his hands absolutely flew over the keyboard. His backing band was worthy – every musician played a number of instruments and the solos were tremendous.

He and his lead guitar player bowed to each other about two-thirds of the way through the show, and let loose with some serious metal. They tore through Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze as a Seattle tribute.

Then Billy called his head guitar roadie up on stage for a ‘Washington Idol’ moment. Billy asked us to bear with him and give his roadie a chance to sing a “spiritual song” for us. He then introduced Chainsaw, a stocky, tattooed man in a t-shirt and shorts, who absolutely nailed Highway to Hell. It was hilarious, and it was a ton of fun.

He closed the night with two encores. The first was Scenes from an Italian Restaurant done beautifully, and Big Shot for a jolt of energy. The second encore was my favorite, Piano Man.

It still blows me away to see happy dancing folks waving their cell phones in the air, instead of lighters.

Ok Bryan here… I also thought the concert was a lot of fun, and I’m half hoarse from singing along. Billy Joel is fascinating to me, as he’s someone that performs across the entire pop/rock genre, even to the fringes of jazz and straight pop ballads that would have been hits in the 30s and 40s. I sure expected Piano Man…but not Purple Haze and Highway to Hell. Tonight he hit all of those areas, and somehow made it seamless.

It was also interesting to me to contrast his concert to our recent experience with The Police a few months back. Sting and the boys played just about every song they’d ever done that charted. Billy can’t do that, because we would still be there listening if he had. Just a lot deeper catalog of hits to cover for Billy, but I wasn’t disappointed with the choices. Ok, Uptown Girl would have been fun, but only if he was still married to Christie Brinkley. By the way Billy, how the hell did you screw that up? Couldn’t resist.

Anyway we both had a great time and we’re really glad we went.

Last night Bryan and I went to a spectacular concert – the Police, at Key Arena.

It was a really fantastic show, one of the best concerts I’ve been to. (Although I haven’t been to many – I’m cheap and there are few acts I’m willing to drop that kind of money on seeing live.)

Sting still has it. At 55 years old, he’s still fabulous, charismatic, velvet-voiced and compelling. He could still rock stainless steel jockey shorts today. His partners Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers were great too – but I primarily went to see Sting.

Dressed in slim black jeans and a white sleeveless t-shirt, with spiky bleached-blonde hair, he performed like a veteran rock god – funny, expressive, serious, passionate and always with his trademark vocal range and stylings. He played an ancient, worn bass that was obviously an old friend from early performing days – refreshing, in days of glossy performance excess.

The Key Arena was packed, sold out, for the second night in a row, and almost everyone there stood, clapped, sang and danced through the whole show. The stage set was classy, moving lights and giant video monitors – a nice touch was lighting the crowd after every number to highlight audience response.

Their set was a solid two hours, and there were three encores. Unheard of! I don’t often say this, but I think the concert was worth every penny.

One sign that the world has changed in the last decade… It used to be you’d hold a lighter in the air during the numbers that move you, right? Last night, as the band swung into every memorable number, the arena was lit up with thousands of cell phones and digicams, recording the experience for posterity. Today there will be thousands of new, low-res, low-fi shaky YouTube videos uploaded, digital proof that “I was there”.

The opening act was a group called Fiction Plane. The local paper was not kind to them, but I have to disagree… they were quite good, musically proficient, confident performers, a solid set and a nice segue. The bass player and lead singer of Fiction Plane is Sting’s son, and he looks and sounds quite a bit like him, although his music was more contemporary emo/alt-rock in style.

My hearing is still a little muffled from the show, but I’m glad we went.

Last night Zach and I headed to Seattle Center to watch alt-country/bluegrass group Nickel Creek.

Zach is an atypical teen – he prefers country and bluegrass to rock and hip hop. Nickel Creek has been a favorite of mine for some time, but he glommed onto the CDs as soon as he got an MP3 player.

When we saw that they were coming to town, and the ticket prices were reasonable, we decided to go. The concert was at 8pm on a weeknight – and we have a 1:30 minimum commute to the Seattle Center – but what the heck, live a little!

Jon Brion was the opening act. I’d never heard of him before, but he’s pretty amazing – a singer/songwriter/one-man-band with quite a bit of film songwriting credit on his resume. His set was like a fluid jam band session, quite a bit of fun – the highlight was a cover of Ray Davies’ Waterloo Sunset.

The Nickel Creek folks had come on stage to play with Jon separately, but after an intermission, returned for their set. At 9:45pm.

They were superb – unpretentious, talented as all get-out, and great performers. There were no complex stage sets, no electric light shows, no explosive numbers – just fabulous music.

I do have to note that their stage movement was a little spastic and awkward – but we didn’t buy tickets to see the Rockettes. The lack of choreography and focus on serious music was refreshing.

It was Zach’s first concert with me, and the first concert he’d really chosen. Although going with his mom wasn’t as much fun as hanging out with his friends would have been, he was good company. His verdict on the concert? “Um. I don’t know… Pie?”

The band is breaking up, and members are going their separate ways at the end of 2007. One of their T-shirts read “Farewell For Now Tour”. We’ll certainly miss them!

If your life were a film, what would the soundtrack be?

Holy tagged me with a blog meme. Like her, I’m not a bandwagon kind of gal, I’d much rather wax philosophical, technical, or just plain old rant… but this one looked like fun. Here’s how the soundtrack gig works:

1. Open your library. (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle and press play.
3. For every section, type the song that’s playing.
4. When you go to a new section, press the next button.
5. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.
6. When you’re finished, tag some other people to do it!

I tag… Michelle, Steph, and Brandy! And anyone else who’d like to play. Set your digital music players on stun.

And without further ado, here’s the shuffled soundtrack of my life.

Opening Credits

Starship, Set the Night to Music. It is so 80s, and so cheesy, wonderfully melodramatic. A major flashback song for me!

Waking Up

Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Toward Ecstasy. Hmm, never thought of waking up as an ecstatic experience! “All the fear has left me now, I’m not frightened anymore… I won’t fear love.”

First Day at School

David Gray, Babylon. “Open up my heart to all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule.” That about sums up my school experience!

Falling in Love

Sugarland, Enjoy the Ride. That’s always been my philosophy about love - it’s not a destination nor a formula romance. This one works.

Fight Song

James Taylor, Baby Buffalo. This song has nothing to do with fighting, but I enjoy the mood and, always, Taylor’s acoustic guitar.

Breaking Up

Peter Paul and Mary, Puff the Magic Dragon. This is a nontraditional breakup song about growing up and growing apart. I never did think of it as a drug anthem, but enjoyed it at face value.

Prom

Norah Jones, I’ve Got to See You Again. This is, ironically, the story of a stripper and a lap dance. I was not a big prom queen type.

Making Babies

U2, Love Rescue Me. In many ways, love did rescue me. I had to completely change my life. I could no longer be a completely self-centered spoiled brat, and instead had to learn to occasionally put others first.

Mental Breakdown

Sting, Ghost Story. This is a great mental breakdown song! “What could I do but run and run and run? Afraid to love, afraid to fail, a mast without a sail.” I’ve been there, usually at 3 am with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.

Driving

Andres Segovia, Partita for Solo Violin #3 in E Major. While I love Andres Segovia’s classical guitar work and can listen to it for hours, it’s not my choice for driving. I need something more energetic for the road, with energy and pep - I usually choose arena rock.

Flashback

Nickel Creek, Doubting Thomas. Nickel Creek can’t qualify as flashback music on any level, unless this song actually described a flashback - and it doesn’t. Can they even drink legally yet? Have they reached puberty? But their lyrics are quite poetic and their musicianship stellar.

Getting Back Together

Emmylou Harris, Strong Hand (For June). Stumbling Into Grace is a spectacular album. Get it and immerse yourself in it. “And l will see them. Someday they’ll walk again together. l believe, l believe.” Rereading the lyrics to this song, and the reunion it describes, made me cry.

Wedding

Whitesnake, Here I Go Again. Too funny! Not exactly marriage-minded music. In this vein, I could play J. Geils Band’s Love Stinks at the reception too.

Birth of Child

Alan Jackson, Nobody Said it Would Be Easy. No, nobody said childbirth would be easy, nor parenting, but I never knew it would be so gut-wrenchingly, soul-suckingly, mind-shatteringly tough either!

Final Battle

Fleetwood Mac, Silver Springs. “I follow you down ’till the sound of my voice will haunt you.” I just need shining armor and a big ol’ enchanted sword, and it works!

Death Scene

Allison Krauss, Forget About It. “Forget about it, when forever’s over, I won’t remember how much I loved you anymore.” Ouch!

Funeral Song

Peter Gabriel, In Your Eyes. Definitely one of the most beautiful songs ever, but not a funeral song. It celebrates the life and soul in a lover’s eyes. We played James Taylor’s Fire and Rain at my dad’s funeral. It was very perfect, and to this day it reduces me to tears whenever I hear it.

End Credits

Nanci Griffith, This Heart. “This heart knows when love comes. And when it goes.” Enough said.